Colony, the latest film from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho, arrives in theaters on August 28. While it introduces a novel concept for the zombie genre, the execution proves inconsistent, leaving the film as a middling entry rather than a standout.
Decades after the zombie craze of the 2000s and 2010s, which saw a surge in popularity partly fueled by the success of 2016's Train to Busan, the genre faces challenges. With audience interest waning due to oversaturation and pandemic fatigue, and Korean media now a global powerhouse, the bar for zombie narratives is higher. While Netflix's All of Us Are Dead demonstrated continued audience appetite for zombie stories that tap into societal anxieties, Colony struggles to hit those same notes.
Yeon Sang-ho, who has explored societal psychological horror in projects like Hellbound, finds himself continually compared to his breakout film. Colony, his first original zombie tale in a decade, is no exception. The film attempts to find originality by positing its outbreak not as a virus, but as a mold-based biotech weapon. Developed by the ambitious scientist Seo Young-cheol, this slime mold is designed to create a hivemind consciousness by eliminating human miscommunication.
The outbreak begins when Seo unleashes the mold at a biotech conference, infecting the CEO who previously fired him. The infection quickly spreads through a high-rise department store, transforming shoppers into acrobatic, zombie-like beings that operate as a collective organism. These infected are not undead but are driven by an instinct to expand their membership, taking direction from Young-cheol, who claims to have developed the only vaccine. This intriguing premise, drawing parallels to concepts like AI or the juxtaposition of collective versus individualistic cultures, is unfortunately muddied by an inconsistent script that fails to deeply explore how the hivemind processes information and emotion, thus squandering its potential for societal commentary.
Similarly, the script's exploration of character dynamics proves superficial. The film is bolstered by a strong ensemble cast, including Jun Ji-hyun as Kwon Se-jeong, a determined biotechnology professor leading a group of survivors. She is aided by Ji Chang-wook as mall security guard Choi Hyun-seok and Kim Shin-rok as his sister, Choi Hyun-hee, a tech-savvy wheelchair user. The brother-sister relationship offers one of the film's few consistent emotional threads. A missed opportunity lies in the dynamic between Se-jeong and her ex-husband's current wife, Gong Seol-hee, also a biotechnologist investigating the attack. While their respectful interaction subverts typical stereotypes, it is underutilized, diminishing the emotional weight of their eventual collaboration.
Despite the script's shortcomings, Yeon's direction elevates the film. Fast-paced, high-stakes action sequences are expertly choreographed, enhancing the anxiety of the horror. One notable scene features a retired track coach retrieving a potential weapon amidst the infected. Another sequence sees Seol-hee navigating a laboratory filled with infected monkeys in a frantic, almost Planet of the Apes-esque moment. The physical performances of the infected are a highlight; their contorted bodies and collective formations lend them an alien quality, increasing the creep factor as they move in decidedly inhuman ways.
Colony is the kind of film that suggests a director experimenting with filmmaking in a challenging landscape for cinema. While it does not reach the heights of Train to Busan, its classic Die Hard-with-zombies premise, charismatic performances, and competent direction make it an enjoyable, low-stakes cinematic experience. It ultimately serves as a fun, if flawed, afternoon at the movies.